Archive for September, 2006

This week there are some strong considerations at the running back position. One, everyone should already know by now is Maurice Morris. Who are some of the other players that are out there to consider?

Quarterbacks

Steve McNair
Many are skeptical on McNair’s value as a fantasy quarterback. He would be no more then a filler as a starter but McNair is still a solid quarterback. The question with him in Baltimore was the system the Ravens have used over the years. The running game still has been poor to launch and may come along to a nice degree, but hasn’t yet. Until it does the Ravens will have to rely on McNair to air it out. Last week against the Browns his numbers weren’t great, but he threw the ball 41 times. Any quarterback that is throwing for that high of a number is worth scooping up.

JP Losman
We had Losman down as a worthy shot of starting last week in fantasy leagues and he came through as the third rated quarterback of the week. Perhaps it was the Jets poor defense but Losman looked comfortable airing the football out for the first time in his career. Maybe that will get him going, as he has had the groundwork to do it with Willis McGahee continuing to do well. Losman is a low risk pickup that is only needed if you are in a desperate situation at quarterback and don’t want to give in to a trade just yet.

The Rooks: Vince Young and Matt Leinart
Most of the time fantasy rookie quarterbacks are the worst solution to even consider adding to a fantasy roster. With these two quarterbacks though it is not even about what they will do from October and beyond. They’re going to be poor from the gate as the usual trend suggests. Where they will play a factor is down the road when fantasy playoffs come around. By then they’ll both be fastened for launching quality games and boosting your chances of pulling off an upset in the playoff rounds.

Running Backs

Maurice Morris
Morris now has an opportunity to showcase if he can be an actual every down back. This is his fifth year in the league but he has shown brief flashes in his career. The bad thing about Morris is that the Seahawks have not been able to run the football at all this season. If the line can’t create holes then Morris is going to be getting drilled at the line of scrimmage. At his size that is going to be tough to see him do without fumbling regularly. The Seahawks will likely spread their receivers out (Jackson, Branch, Burelson, and Engram) and try to create some draws or dump passes for Morris.

Maurice Drew
The Jags ran all over the Colts as most teams have been able to do this year. Drew looks very likely to finally be the guy to supplant Fred Taylor. The good thing for Fred Taylor owners is at least they’ll be able to work a lighter load for him, with Drew in the fold. His previous week may end up being his best output of the year unless Taylor goes down. Unless has been a likely scenario for Taylor in his career, but unless you have Fred Taylor don’t worry about picking up Drew.

Ladell Betts
Once teams become active to do a trade, Betts figures to be one of the top backs to be shipped out. The Redskins have Portis and Duckett to complement each other, and Betts is a back that could start for plenty of teams. Seattle and Denver could be in his sights but as of now Betts is just buried too deep on the Redskins. He did get the carries last week against Houston but that was because of Portis not playing at a 100 percent, and of the big lead the Redskins had. Both of those facts of last week likely won’t shape around a Redskin game ever again this season.

Michael Robinson
Gore is going to remain the main guy for the 49ers but there are plenty of reasons to consider Robinson. Gore is battling a rib injury and he has been fumbling the football at a high rate. The 49ers will likely adjust the way they use Gore just enough to see Robinson start getting into the fold. Watch out for how they use him, whether it is as a short yardage back or an increase of carries.

Wide Receivers

Chris Henry
Chad Johnson may be getting upset but Henry has been the man lately in Cincinnati. TJ and Henry accounted for two scores each last week while Johnson only had one catch for eleven yards. While Johnson is off to a slow start it has more to do with teams blanketing him then anything. Teams will be forced to stop focusing as much attention to him if they keep getting toasted by TJ and Henry. So Henry will likely not be continuing his big games but will be an erratic fantasy stud. Sort of like Az Hakim was as third receiver of the Rams back in their electric days.

Doug Gabriel
Brady has become frustrated and for his mindset to change into a positive state it will be up to Doug Gabriel. Against the Broncos he was the only bright spot, as he made a nice touchdown catch in the back of the end zone. He was getting open all night on short routes and getting extra yards with his big size. The Patriots are bringing him along and Brady will only look more his way as the season goes along.

Mark Clayton
With McNair likely throwing the football more, Derrick Mason isn’t going to be the only Raven receiver fantasy worthy. Clayton had a solid game last week with eight catches for seventy four yards. Those were low enough numbers to keep him from jumping out on every fantasy owners minds. There will be a game soon though where he’ll have a big game and be on every owners radar. Anticipate the offense opening up and scoop up Clayton while you have the chance.

Turnovers are a normal part of the game of football, but Sunday may have set a weekly schedule high. Flashing and watching almost every game on Sunday, it seemed to be turnover after turnover. A lot of them were costly errors that not only blew games for teams with chances to win, but cost your fantasy teams those precious points you can’t afford to lose.

This week was so bad for turnovers that we’ve highlighted the top ten players of the week that could not avoid the costly mistakes. Usually we do not break out a list for this sort of article, but this week brings out a special occasion.

1. Kurt Warner
It was supposed to be an easy week for Warner. All of the signs were there for him to have a payback game against his old team. Instead he threw three interceptions, including one that he’ll never be able to explain ever. On top of that he fumbled a snap after the Cardinals had caught a break of a life time in the final two minutes of the game. Cardinals fans are already beginning the Leinart chants.

2. Frank Gore
For the second week in a row Gore fumbled on the opposing teams goal line. Then he got banged up during the game and saw Michael Robinson able to punch it in easily from a yard out. Now Gore’s rise as a fantasy player is sure to take a hit. The 49ers now know that Robinson can be the goal line back, as Gore sure has not proved it. His total yards will remain high but losing his touchdowns makes him a hard back to start on certain weeks.

3. Eli Manning
You’d think a comeback win like the Giants had against the Eagles would inspire a team. That wasn’t the case as Eli Manning came out looking to throw to Seahawk defenders. One thing Manning needs is a healthy Jeremy Shockey. He isn’t 100 percent and he needs Shockey to get that middle of the field back open. Right now he is just gunning towards the sidelines to his receivers that are doubled and triple teamed. It was just a horrific weekend for the Giants offense and defense.

4. Carson Palmer
If it were not for a couple of lucky fourth quarter plays people would be asking what was going on with Carson Palmer. His two interceptions were absolutely ridiculous. One came right after a pick off of Roethlisberger, on a play that Palmer left Chris Henry to get blasted into bits and pieces. He seemed to not have the pocket presence and awareness he needed in the pocket. The ticker in his head to get rid of the football was delayed by seconds every drop back. That resulted in numerous sacks and fumbles that were luckily recovered by the Bengals lineman most of the time.

5. Daunte Culpepper
For the owners that waited on a quarterback to draft by eyeing Daunte Culpepper as their main man, are sitting 0-3 in their fantasy leagues. This comes as no shocker that Culpepper is playing this bad. It’s called there is “No Moss” and “No Running Game”. He did this last year with the Vikings without Randy and it’s carried over to the Dolphins. To barely pull off a win at home against the Titans shows how poor Culpepper is at this state. If the Dolphins would have lost that game they would be announcing Harrington as the starter. We give it another week before a change is made.

6. Mark Brunell
Write it off as a late last gasp for Brunell. People that think he is revived with his record setting completion mark, forget about it. That completion record is fabulous but showing over a Texan team that also allowed Ladell Betts and Clinton Portis to run all over them. Every veteran quarterback has their last “hooray” game and this was it for Brunell.

7. Brad Johnson
Veteran quarterbacks can not have lapses towards the last part of the game. Johnson did a great job all day not turning the football over. So with under four minutes to go, he had to of known the Bears would try to commit a turnover. That game could have uplifted the Vikings more then people would imagine. Instead the defense that was playing great all day, suddenly buckled and gave up an easy deep route touchdown to the Bears.

8. Jon Kasay
Last week it was Rian Lindell shaking up the point board for kickers, and this week it was Jon Kasay. Kasay saved the Panthers from being 0-3 with four booming kicks. None of which were chip shots either. Two were fifty plus and the other two were in the high forties. There may be two or three kickers that would have been four for four on those kicks, and it truly shows how valuable a kicker is. Without those earlier makes, Carolina would have been trying to score a miracle touchdown with a desperate hail mary attempt.

9. Byron Leftwich
The Jaguars let one get away on Sunday and all of the blame should go on Byron Leftwich. Jacksonville was controlling the first half against the Colts, but went into the locker room tied at 7. When a team has chances to put away the Colts, you have to capitalize. On two drives deep into the Colts territory the Jaguars failed to do so. Leftwich threw a pick deep down in their territory one time, and another the Jags couldn’t punch it in inside the ten yard line. What made that drive even worse was the missed 26 yard field goal by Josh Scobee, who was 0 for 2 on the day.

10. Willis McGahee
He still can’t find the endzone. Fantasy owners have to be going nuts with the points McGahee is missing out from being end zone allergic. If he can’t reach the end zone against the Jets then McGahee is going to be a sure lock to have the least touchdowns out of the top twelve backs drafted in fantasy leagues.

Two weeks have completed and the season is already full of considerable questions. Studs wide receivers, especially are being shut down while sleepers in Lavernues Coles, Antonio Bryant, and Donte Stallworth are controlling the position. This was definitely the year to seek out sleepers in those positions, because those of you that thought you were alright with taking a TO, Moss, Steve Smith, or even Torry Holt are shaking their heads. As always let the season pan out as great players will shine unless injury sets in. All of these stat trends and rankings aren’t done for nothing. They usually end up paying off in a decent way.

With that in mind, lets look at some players under the radar that are worth starting this weekend.

Quarterbacks

Brad Johnson
The Bears defense has looked dominant but hasn’t faced a team with the offensive capabilities of the Vikings yet. Brad Johnson isn’t going to do anything outrageous with the football. He is sneaky though with the way he manages a game. They’ll run the ball to death and punt it a lot with Chester Taylor, but they’ll also mix some big plays in through the air. Johnson might have one of those low yardage but high touchdown total games.

JP Losman
The Bills have yet to let him throw the football. It’s been because they’ve been in both of their games and didn’t want him to lose it. Actually, he did cost them the first game by getting sacked in the end zone, but that’s a different story. The Bills defense is not going to be able to hold up against the Jets offense. So they’re going to need more then a 6 for 10 game for 79 yards from Losman. He has been getting all his fantasy points with his legs. Add a decent amount of yardage and a touchdown here and there and Losman will be a quality start if you have no where else to go.

Jon Kitna
Things have not been going the way Kitna would have liked. The veteran has his job on the line this week or Josh McCown will step in. It does not matter who is the quarterback unless Kevin Jones can create some offense in the running game. He has really had a tough time which has affected Kitna’s play as well. Against the Packers, Jones should breakout and give Kitna time to throw all over the poor Packers secondary.

David Carr
The Redskins continue to be banged up with Shawn Springs out again with a groin injury. Carr has quietly started the season better then most would have anticipated. He has hit Eric Moulds and Andre Johnson well in the first two weeks, which is a great sign for fantasy owners. Carr is the Texans offense unless Samkon Gado can repeat his magic of last year. So airing it out is going to happen, whether it be good or bad.

Running Backs

Willis McGahee
He hasn’t found the end zone yet but may catch up this weekend. The yards will be no problem but anticipate a couple of trips to the end zone for McGahee.

Jamal Lewis
All we have to say is he delivers against the Cleveland Browns. Flashback and do some research to figure that one out. He hasn’t burst onto the 2006 season yet but has run harder and better then last season.

Steven Jackson
Jackson is another back that can’t find the end zone. The Rams in fact have had a hard time scoring seven points. Facing the Cardinals defense is going to be instant relief in their points scored department. Jackson may be on his way to a Pro Bowl season, and will be if he stays healthy.

Ronnie Brown
The whole Dolphins offense has been MIA. Brown needs to get things in gear for this team to get going. One of the major reasons the Dolphins were on their hot streak towards the end of last season was because of the combination of Williams and Brown. Maybe not having Williamson the team is that big of a difference.

Wide Receivers

Reggie Brown
Stallworth has stole the spotlight from Brown in a quick hurry. Both should keep doing well but Brown should close the gap on Stallworth’s incredible pace. McNabb won’t be slowing down his arm anytime soon, so keep starting both.

Andre Johnson
A guy with as much talent as Johnson’s was not going to be shut down for two years in a row. The Texans are trying to get back to the level they were a few seasons ago, when they finished 7-9. In order to do that Johnson is going to need to become the receiver he should be in the NFL. Teams have been able to throw on the Redskins especially with the deep ball. So expect some great numbers from him this week.

Isaac Bruce
The Cardinals gave up practically a game’s worth of stats in the first two drives to the Seahawks in Darrell Jackson last week. This game might be a throwback to all of the old “Best Show on Turf” fans of fantasy football. The great days of when Warner, Faulk, Holt, and Bruce would all have great fantasy games. Translate that to now, that mean Bulger, Jackson, Holt, and Bruce. This should be a back and forth offensive contest with plenty of scoring action.

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